Friday, July 17, 2009

The jury is currently deliberating in the Lateisha Green murder trial in Syracuse.

State Senator Tom Duane gave an impassioned speech about the HIV/AIDS crisis early this morning at an all-night session of the Senate. The Senate then passed a bill that prevents people living with HIV or AIDS and receiving public assistance from having to pay more than 30 percent of their monthly income on rent, 52-1.

The U.S. Senate voted yesterday to expand the federal hate crimes bill to include protections based on sexual orientation and gender. The expansion, tacked onto a must-pass defense bill, is expected to pass sometime next week.

Obama spoke at the NAACP conference last night, and he made a powerful statement against discrimination of all kinds: "But make no mistake: the pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African-American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion for simply kneeling down to pray. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights."